Dragon Tails
by OccasionallyIWriteStuff
Summary: Jaune Arc is a squire who needs to prove both to himself and to everyone around him that his acceptance to Beacon wasn't a mistake. When he ends up being paired with one of the strongest shifters in their class, he sees his opportunity and will do anything utilize it to its full potential. Xekstrin Dragon AU.
1. Introductions

_A/N: It's been awhile since I published something guys. Whoops. Anyway, this time we're in Xekstrin's dragon AU. If you aren't familiar the it boils down to shifters = dragons, squires ride those dragons to fight Grimm because the Grimm are massive, and shifters need aura concentrated blood to turn back to their human form. That's basically all you need for this story, but if you are interested in more in-depth knowledge you can check out Xekstrin's Dragon AU tag on tumblr. Also, used m-azing's design of shifter Pyrrha. Speaking of, Pyrrha is a bit meaner/crabbier in this AU. This is a setup chapter. Next will be the action and other stuff. Enjoy._

* * *

Jaune grunted and groaned as silently as he possibly could, trying to remove his shield from the locker. Beacon's lockers were some sort of dimensional anomaly to him. Jaune was always able to slide the shield in without any problems; but as soon as he wanted it back, the locker shrunk in size by about five centimeters. It wasn't much, but it was enough of a change that Jaune always ended up having to struggle to get it out. It was an eternal battle for him.

And like always, he was losing.

The other squires were excitedly chatting about the upcoming battles. While it wasn't the first time they had been paired up with a shifter to practice against another group, this was the first time that their grade depended upon it. It wasn't a _pass/fail win/loss_ grading system, but instead resembled an effort based system. If the instructors believed that the squires and shifters worked together well, then a passing grade would be administered, with adjustments being made based on the skill of the pair during the fight.

The first few practice fights had also been more of a way to show who had what skills amongst incoming freshmen. Everyone watched everyone else's matches. Weiss Schnee, a pale, rude girl from an upper class family in Vale showed that her application of dust was far superior to the average student. Yang Xiao-Long, a friendly blonde from a lower class family, showed how rash she could be when she power-bombed another dragon into submission. Ruby Rose, the kid-sister of Yang, showed that, while she couldn't fly, she had more than enough skill in on the ground, thinking and out pacing her opponent there instead of in the sky.

And Jaune.

He showed his utter incompetence.

Jaune lost his individual fight with Cardin Winchester, a stocky squire-bred, in a matter of moments. Two seconds into the fight Jaune tripped over a rock on the field, dropped his sword, and gave himself a black eye when the edge his shield clipped his face. Just remembering it brought a warm sensation to his face. He could still hear the laughs and jeers of his classmates. None of the ones he had heard had been particularly mean spirited, nothing more than, "Great going Arc!" and, "Certainly showed the ground who's boss!" but Cardin's comment had stuck with him.

Cardin had knelt down to pretend like he was checking on Jaune's well-being, but used the time to whisper so that the instructor, who was moving closer, couldn't hear. "Why are you even here?" He then pulled Jaune up roughly and slapped his back, trying to show that they were friends. But they weren't. And Jaune knew that.

Five words. Five words that cut into Jaune's soul. It's true that Jaune got into Beacon. He hadn't faked any transcripts or paid off any officials or pulled any strings. He was at Beacon fair and square.

But that wasn't entirely true. After seeing what the other students could do, it became clear to Jaune that he did _not_ belong here. All of them, every last one, were better than Jaune. If it wasn't clear when he slipped off his saddle and lost the match for his shifter, it became very clear in the following weeks elsewhere. In classes, Jaune struggled under the immense workload. Grades hadn't started yet, the introduction month being his only saving grace; but several teachers had already pulled him to the side and spoken to him about his performance. In the gym, Jaune couldn't compete. He couldn't press more than sixty kilos. He couldn't run five kilometers in his armor without breaking a sweat. He couldn't punch somebody hard enough to send them to the infirmary, though he played the reverse role very well. And on the field, Jaune established his dominance as a failure by losing his second match in an equally embarrassing way.

It very quickly became known that Jaune was someone who didn't belong. That he wasn't as good as everyone else. Shifters didn't want to be paired with him, and groups loved being paired against him. It was a guaranteed win.

And it wasn't lost on Jaune. His first month at Beacon showed him that the only reason he was here, was because of his name. Arc. That name held a lot of weight in the knight community. Rouge Arc lead the counter-offensive when Grimm destroyed Vale two hundred years ago. Grivois Arc constructed the entirety of the southern frontier with only a group of two other hunters. And Jaune's father Vert Arc, at the age of eighteen defeated a fifteen meter long, nine meter tall nevermore, the largest of its kind ever recorded.

And Jaune Arc had nearly brained himself on the first day with his own shield.

He gave another hearty tug at the equiment still stuck in his locker. His name being the sole reason for his admittance to Beacon didn't dishearten Jaune though. If anything, it made him want to prove everyone wrong. The school. His classmates, Cardin in particular. Anybody who doubted him. He was sick of being the kid who was the laughing stock of the locker room. He was tired of being the kid who people openly mocked in the hallways. It would be tough, Jaune knew that, but he had to try. Partners would be formed soon and he wasn't going to be the reason they both flunked out. He wasn't going to be the only Arc in three-hundred years to not be a knight. He wouldn't do that to his family.

"Are you Jaune Arc?"

Jaune nearly jumped out of his skin and slammed his head into the top of the locker as he straightened up. Knowing none of the other knights would talk to him, Jaune figured that he had missed the announcement from the shifters to come in and find whoever they were paired with. He took a deep breath and spun around with a smile.

Standing behind him was another boy, about the same height with dark hair, pink eyes, and a pair of tan horns springing from the top of his head; marking him as a shifter. The boy had a green and black tail-coat on with a pair of white pants underneath. The newcomer's face betrayed no emotion other than that of exhaustion. It looked like he hadn't slept well in months as evidenced by the large bags taking up residence under his eyes.

Jaune thought back to the piece of paper he had received when Professor Goodwitch assigned pairs for the day. The boy in front of him didn't look like a "Nora Valkyrie" who made the _o_ a heart, both _a_'s hearts, and had dotted their _i _with a heart in pink ink. In fact, Jaune hazarded that the guy in front of him probably detested the sort of bubbly personality that would write such a thing. But Jaune wasn't going to judge. He had no right to assume that the pink ink and bubbly handwriting hadn't come from the boy in front of him. Besides, he didn't want to insult his partner before the match.

Jaune stuck out his hand in a greeting. "Hey Nora! Yeah, I'm Jaune. Nice to meet you."

Nora looked at his hand and took it up in his own. "Lie Ren."

Jaune's eyes widened and his face reddened as he finished the handshake. He was such an idiot. "O-of course. What do ya' need Ren?"

Ren looked the squire up and down. He was tall, but that was about all the blonde had going for him. While Ren didn't have much to brag about, it appeared that Jaune's noodle arms were just that and nothing more. What armor that Jaune had managed to strap on only covered his chest, shoulders and thighs along with being incorrectly fit and loose in several places. Ren looked critically at the two belts necessary to hold up Jaune's pants and sighed. This kid was just as much of a mess as the various rumors floating around his name made him out to be.

"You were paired with Nora Valkyrie right?"

"Uh-" Jaune pulled the slip of paper out of his pocket to verify, as if he hadn't already memorized the name. "Yeah." He looked up at Ren. "Why?"

"Would you be willing to switch with me? Nora and I are unofficial Partners and we don't like being separated." Ren's voice didn't waver but he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck while a slight pink color crept into his cheeks.

Jaune looked down at the slip of paper again. Nora was a great shifter. Jaune saw her in action once and it was something else. Her flying was a bit frantic and chaotic, but there was no doubt that she was one of the strongest shifters in this year's class. Giving up her slip would be dangerous. With her, he was almost guaranteed a win, and that would move him up in the eyes of his classmates. Then he could show them all what he could really do. Jaune nodded to himself in determination. He couldn't give up Nora. He had to start looking out for numero uno. Even if they were partners, helping Ren out would only lead to problems for Jaune. And he wasn't about to start creating contention for himself when he had so much already. He looked at Ren with his mind set on rejection.

"Sure, no problem man. Don't want to break up Partners." Jaune smiled and handed over the paper, internally screaming at his lack of backbone.

Ren nodded thanks and handed over his slip of paper, which had been folded neatly down the center. "See you around." And with that, Ren, the squire who stole all of Jaune's hopes and dreams, turned and disappeared into the crowd of still chatting students.

Jaune groaned out loud and slammed his forehead into the locker. He was such a wimp. Ren hadn't even bullied him and Jaune had given in instantly. And now, Jaune was stuck with a shifter who wouldn't be able to pick up for his slack and they would lose because of Jaune's incompetence. Just like last time. And just like the time before that. And just like every time Jaune was paired for a match.

Jaune unfolded the paper and looked at the name of the unfortunate soul who was being punished for unknown reasons.

Written in sharp black scrawl was the name: _Pyrrha Nikos_.

Oh.

Or maybe not.

* * *

Almost everybody else had already left the armory with their temporary partner. But Jaune was still at his locker, tugging away at his shield. Pyrrha had yet to show up, and Jaune was grateful for that. It meant that she wouldn't have to see this embarrassing display of weakness. He had to be tough if he wanted to end up permanent partners with Pyrrha. And that was one of the few things that could save him from the shameful jaws of flunking out of Beacon.

With a final heave, Jaune managed to pull his shield from the Arthurian locker. With no resistance though, Jaune stumbled and tripped backwards, fully expecting to receive _another_ head injury. However, instead of immediately hitting the ground, his shoulders connected with the shins of someone else and a surprised gasp came from above him. _Then_ his head slapped back against the stone and his vision went fuzzy.

"Watch it!" Jaune heard someone yell. While he couldn't see who he had almost knocked over, Jaune waved an apology and gave a sheepish smile anyway. He heard a sigh of annoyance before a hand came into focus, reaching for him to grab onto. Trying not to act excited at the prospect of someone not avoiding contact with him, Jaune grabbed the hand and used the leverage to pull himself up. Whoever the hand belonged to was like a rock; unmoving and a pillar of steady rigidity.

"Than-" Jaune's vision swam with black again. His head throbbed with pain and he almost collapsed before he felt support and heard another annoyed sigh. With a gentle push, his pillar propped him onto the locker for support, instead of taking the burden themselves.

"I assume you're Jaune Arc?" The voice was feminine and hard, but not mean. More exasperated than anything. Like someone who had just come home from work to find the dishes not done, despite being promised they would be.

Jaune felt his face warm with the fact that he could so easily be recognized by such a clumsy series of events. He blinked several times and his vision began to clear. "The one and only." He raised his head, eyes still closed. "Who's asking?" He tried to put on a charming smile and opened his eyes, meeting the piercing green of his savior.

And then he saw the rest of her.

Jaune liked to think that he could be relatively smooth with the ladies.

But instantly knew that _this _one was different.

Everything about this girl screamed _hot_ to Jaune. She was just shorter than Jaune by about centimeter or two and had olive skin that she had no problem showing off. All that this mysterious girl had in terms of clothing was a dark-red, midriff bearing, tube top and a gold topped skirt with two long slits on either side, that revealed one of two exceptionally well-toned legs. More of her body was probably covered in jewelry than it was in actual cloth. Around her neck was a golden choker embedded with several precious stones; and around her wrists and shoulders were matching pieces of what Jaune assumed to be steel armor that had been painted gold. On her hands were several expensive looking rings and Jaune couldn't help but notice the fact that her nails were sharpened to points.

As quickly as he could, Jaune raised his eyes back up to the girl's. But he noticed a few things that didn't seem in place in the process. Here and there, splotched across her skin were patches of red scales. Instead of the normal white, her eyes were yellow and the pupils were vertical. Just as she opened her mouth, a small, almost invisible puff of smoke came out.

"My name is Pyrrha. You're my partner for the match today." While she was stating the fact, she didn't seem particularly pleased about it. Her eyes narrowed as if she was sizing up prey before she continued, "If you're done staring we can tell Goodwitch that we're ready."

Jaune's face flushed red. "S-sorry I… uh…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He hadn't meant to be offensive; he had just been caught off guard by how attractive she was and how draconian her form was. Weren't shifters supposed to be able to fully transform with a little blood? Why did she still have so many dragon characteristics then? Could shifters control that kind of stuff? Did she do it on purpose? Jaune decided not to bring it up for fear of insulting his companion. Besides, dragon certainly didn't look _bad_ on her.

"I'll just grab my sword and we can uh… yeah." Jaune let out a nervous laugh before turning around and reaching into his locker for the sword. Praying that his sword wouldn't emulate his shield in being half impossible to remove from the locker, he tugged at it. Sure enough, it caught on the edges of the locker. Jaune looked over his shoulder and tried to give his best smile. "Just one second." Trying to be as casual as possible, Jaune slowly attempted to add more power to his pull and not raise suspicion.

However, Pyrrha was not deceived and Jaune was confident he saw black smoke leave her nostrils as she huffed. "Move over." Pyrrha placed one hand on Jaune's chest plate and pushed him out of the way. With her other hand she grabbed the sword and pulled. With a heavy, metallic, groan; the locker edges bent outwards and the sword came free. Jaune couldn't help but notice the incredible muscles Pyrrha's arm had as he almost fumbled the sword she threw towards him.

Jaune looked at the locker door and attempted to shut it. In whined noisily, but didn't shut at all. Instead, it simply stood propped open against the bent edges. He looked at Pyrrha and attempted to smile again. "With what they're charging us, one locker door won't be a big deal, right?" Pyrrha rolled her eyes and began to move away from him and head towards the exit of the armory. Jaune hurried after her once his sword and sheath were strapped to one his belt and his shield was safely on his back. He caught up quickly and held the door open for his companion. She eyed him, but didn't say anything.

"So… Who do you think we'll be up against today?" Jaune questioned. He wanted to make friends with Pyrrha if he could. She was _easily_ the strongest shifter admitted to beacon this year. Rumor had it she was one of the strongest shifters _ever_. Jaune had never seen her in a fight before, but after every one of her matches, individual or otherwise, people were always talking about it and how badly she thrashed the competition. And then she would disappear for the two or three day rest allowed after matches, only to reappear in the gym showing everybody up, or in class acing a test. She was a crabby mystery that every knight wanted to end up partners with, but nobody had earned that title yet. At least, not that Jaune had heard.

Pyrrha looked at him over her shoulder, her hair framing her back. "Doesn't really matter."

Jaune gave a quizzical look. "Why's that?"

"Because you'll lose your individual, and I'll win the other two sets." Each match was broken into three aspects. Knight against knight, shifter against shifter, pair against pair. The individual sets were worth a point each and the pair set was worth two points. So if both individuals lost, there was still a chance of at least tying the match. It was a system that Professor Ozpin had invented to promote teamwork over individualism.

However, with the way Pyrrha was talking, it didn't seem like it was working. Granted her reputation spoke about her individual prowess and Jaune's spoke of his individual failure, but that was still no way to talk to a teammate.

"Well, my mother always says not to count your eggs before they hatch." Jaune grimaced. Pyrrha didn't bother to refute him, but turned her head back forward.

"We'll see."

The two walked in silence for the last hallway of their adventure. Jaune didn't know why Ms. Goodwitch hadn't set up closer to the armory, but didn't bother to question it as Pyrrha and he entered her classroom and found her sitting at her desk.

Professor Goodwitch looked up from some of the papers she was grading and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Mr. Arc, I thought you were paired with Ms. Valkyrie? And you Ms. Nikos, I thought you were paired with Mr. Lie Ren." Somehow, she had remembered all of the original assignments.

Jaune's mind raced trying to find an excuse for why he was with Pyrrha. Were they allowed to switch? Could they do that? He didn't know why they wouldn't be able to, but Professor Goodwitch had some very strange rules. "Oh! Us? We were just um…"

"Jaune and Ren and Nora and I switched partners." Pyrrha cut in.

Professor Goodwitch raised her eyebrows. "I see." She grabbed a pile of index cards that were stacked in the corner of her desk and flipped through. After a minute or so of searching, Goodwitch pulled two cards from the pile and placed them on the desk, quickly writing something down on a separate piece of paper. She looked up at the pair in front of her with a mysterious glint in her eyes. "I think it is fair that you see what you missed out on then, yes?"

Jaune, confused as to what that meant, merely shrugged. Pyrrha grimaced in response but didn't say anything aloud.

Goodwitch nodded. "Alright then. You will face Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie at three o'clock. Please do not be late." Goodwitch lowered her head and appeared to dismiss the two.

Jaune thought for a second. He hadn't heard anything about Ren and Nora flying together before, but they were "unofficial" Partners, so they had to be good. Jaune didn't know if it was a fact or not, but people often said that a knight and shifter who were Partners were able to communicate telepathically. Not to mention the fact that Ren and Nora must have flown together in the past many to be that comfortable with each other. They would know each other's moves inside and out, regardless of whether or not they could mentally speak to each other.

They were going to be tough.

Before they exited the room, Jaune sneaked a peek at the clock. It was noon. Three hours to bond with Pyrrha before the match.

"Hey, we-uh, could talk strategy and watch a few matches while we wait." Jaune suggested.

But Pyrrha was already walking away, in the opposite direction of the field. "No thanks."

Jaune, bit the inside of his lip and turned his head down. "Alright." Jaune whispered to himself. He looked after his partner walking away from him, almost wanting to call out, but didn't. Instead, he let out a sigh before turning his back to her and started walking on the path that would lead him to the field. Maybe he could think up a strategy on his own.

After all, that was the one class he could always count on doing well in.

* * *

_A/N: Weak ending. I'll try to write the next chapter tonight and post it sometime during the week or tomorrow depending on my self control. This will be a two-shot so following actually makes sense for this story. Drop a favorite, follow, review, whatever if you enjoyed. I love feedback of any sort. Thanks for reading._


	2. Autumn Knights

_A/N: Welp. I lied. This is probably going to be four chapters instead of two. Whoops. Also, this AU technically set in the late industrial period, so we don't have crazy weapons. That's why Ren has those weapons instead of his Canon ones. Enjoy._

* * *

Jaune heard the door open and turned expectantly towards it, hoping to see the better half of his team entering the prep room. Pyrrha still hadn't shown up, and with the clock reading _2:58 p.m,_ Jaune was beginning to think that she wasn't _going _to show up.

Jaune arrived about twenty minutes ago, not wanting to get lost at the last minute and looking like a fool, and ended up extremely early. So, to pass the time, he had been engineering social interactions in his mind for when Pyrrha did show up, so that they could come closer and, hopefully, end up as Partners. But the minutes had ticked by and Pyrrha simply hadn't shown up, leaving an increasingly nervous Jaune alone in the prep room, pacing back and forth. Pyrrha wouldn't forfeit the match so that she wouldn't have to work with Jaune, would she? Jaune knew he was bad, but he bad enough to earn a failing grade for? Pyrrha could probably afford one or two zeroes before her grade plummeted, but not Jaune. He needed this today.

So, when Jaune saw Ren and a short red haired girl who he presumed to be Nora entering the room instead of Pyrrha, he let out a heavy sigh and returned to pacing, offering only a small nod of recognition to the pair.

Nora let out an excited noise and moved from her position hanging off of Ren to hug Jaune. "Hi!"

Jaune felt his ribs cracking and he let out a gasp of air. "Hey there. Could you uh-"

"Nora, you're killing him." Ren spoke up. Nora let go of Jaune and made her way back to her Partner's side.

She let out a giggle before continuing, showing off a pair of large canines in the process. "Sorry, I just wanted to thank who switched with you!" Jaune rubbed his sides, checking for bruises. Nora was certainly excitable, although, Jaune should have been able to guess that from her high contrast outfit of a black jacket, white shirt, and pink skirt. Her blue eyes also seemed to sing with energy and happiness, matching her brilliant smile. It was hard for Jaune to look at her and not smile himself, she just radiated joy.

"It's _sooo_ weird that us four are fighting today. Like, what are the chances that the people we switch with would be the ones we end up fighting? It's almost like a movie or something." Nora zipped to Ren's other side and stretched out both arms like she was framing a title. Her voice took on that of a movie announcer. "Two pairs of knights and shifters, forced to bloody combat after an act of friendship once pulled them together. The only pair to survive will have to _kill_ the other." Nora smiled and looked to approval from Ren.

Jaune swallowed. Hard.

Ren noticed the anxiety that Jaune was giving off but didn't mention it aloud. "I think you're exaggerating again, Nora. Besides, we might not even have to fight." Nora let out a noise somewhere between annoyance, whining, and resentment upon noticing Pyrrha was missing, but didn't pick up her train of thought again.

Jaune looked at the clock. Now it read _3:04 p.m._ Ren was right. Professor Goodwitch was not known for her tolerance of tardiness. If she showed up before Pyrrha did, Jaune would have to forfeit the match. Where was she?

Jaune heard the door to the prep room open again, and his eyes shot towards it hopefully. Professor Goodwitch was holding the door open, surveying the contents of the room with critical eyes.

A pit formed in Jaune's stomach. Pyrrha wasn't here. She had run out on him. Dealing with him hadn't been worth the effort. She would rather take a zero than deal with the most incompetent squire in this year's class. Jaune let out a heavy sigh and moved to collect his sword and shield from where he had placed them. It was time to go home.

"Ah, there he is Ms. Nikos." Jaune's heart jumped as Goodwitch moved to the other side of the door to allow Pyrrha to step in.

And there she was. In all of her glory. All of her draconian glory. The pit in Jaune's chest didn't dissolve completely, because now he had to go against Ren and Nora, but the majority disappeared. He wanted to run over and hug Pyrrha and tell her how thankful he was that she showed up. He wanted to jump for joy and dace with how happy he was that Pyrrha showed up. He wanted to tell Professor Goodwitch that he was going to make it; that everything was going to be alright.

But instead he restricted himself a few wild punches into the air and a slight dance of happiness.

As the wild flailing ended, Jaune noticed that all eyes had turned to him except for those belonging to Professor Goodwitch. Instead, she was turned to Pyrrha, "We will discuss your request later."

Pyrrha's eyes flared with anger. "Professor I need-"

"Later." Goodwitch's voice was hard and firm. It was the end of whatever conversation they were having before entering the prep room. Pyrrha's fiery eyes didn't subside and she let out a plume of black smoke with a huff, but she moved and took up place next to Jaune. While he didn't want to get caught checking her out again, Jaune couldn't help but notice several half-ellipse portions of skin missing, leaving behind angry polka-dots on his partner. Looking closer, Jaune also noticed that several of the patches of scales he saw earlier on Pyrrha were either gone, or shrunk. He moved to ask his companion about it, but was interrupted.

"Now then," Goodwitch looked from Ren to Jaune and back again. "As you are well aware, the individual match between the squires takes place first. Please, grab your weapons and follow me." She moved so that she was standing outside of the room, but still holding the door open.

Ren, who had added a few pieces of leather to his attire as armor, reached behind his head and grabbed at two sword hilts that Jaune hadn't noticed previously, checking to make sure they were there. Now confident in his attire, he moved to the door, but not before getting a hearty hug and "Good luck Ren!" from Nora. Jaune noticed a smile as Ren peeled Nora off and nodded thanks.

Jaune grabbed his sword and clipped it to one of his belts without any issues. However, his shield, which he preferred to carry on his back, was a different story. Jaune struggled with the thing nervously for a minute, acutely aware of all the eyes on him. The stupid thing wouldn't attach to the hooks on the back of his chest plate. Jaune felt heat rising to his face. The match hadn't even started and he was making a fool of himself.

Then he heard an annoyed sigh and his arms were pushed out of the way and his back forcibly straightened. With several loud _snaps!_ the shield became steady. Jaune turned around and looked at Pyrrha. "Thanks."

She crossed her arms but didn't look him in the eye. "Don't mention it." Jaune noticed several of the angry polka-dots on the back of her left arm where it wasn't covered by jewelry.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jaune motioned towards the dots. "If you aren't feeling well or something, then it's alright. You don't have to fight for me. I'll scrape by someho-"

"I'm fine." Pyrrha snapped back at him. A trail of smoke came out of her nostrils.

But Jaune wasn't convinced. Maybe she had chicken-pox? "Seriously, it's alright if you head to the infirmary or something. I-"

"Mr. Arc." Goodwitch tapped her foot impatiently at the door.

Jaune nodded at her and moved to exit the room, but gave one last look back at Pyrrha.

But she wasn't looking at him.

She was staring at the dots.

* * *

Jaune felt the cool autumn air bite against his cheeks as he stepped out onto the field and into the center of the amphitheater. It was a nice day though. The sun was out. There was a gentle breeze coming from the east. Some birds even flew overhead.

Unfortunately, the nice weather also meant that more students would show up to watch the match.

And that it did. From what Jaune could see, almost his entire class was sitting in the stands waiting anxiously for the match to start. Jaune could only figure that between wanting to see Pyrrha in action, Jaune failing in action, and this being the last match of the day; the majority of students decided to attend. There wasn't much noise coming from the crowd, but Jaune could guess what they were talking about. Most likely bets were exchanging hands on how Jaune was going to screw up this individual match. Or on how Jaune could lose the match. Or if Jaune was going to hurt himself more than his opponent.

He tried to shrug it off, but as he was being led to the center of the amphitheater, Jaune's nerves bit at him. There was nothing that he could do other than his best, and if his best was giving himself a black eye, then he would have the blackest eyes of anybody on campus.

Goodwitch stopped in the center of the arena and Jaune and Ren took up their places, marked with white stones in the grey gravel. She raised her hands for silence and the buzz of the crowd died down. "This match is between Jaune Arc," a few boo's escaped the stands but nothing else; "And Lie Ren." Silence followed his name for a second before a bright and cheery voice screamed praise from the sidelines. Jaune looked over and saw both Nora and Pyrrha standing just outside of the amphitheater. Apparently, they had decided that the prep room wasn't good enough.

Jaune swallowed nervously. Pyrrha was watching. His _A_ grade and saving grace was going to watch him fight. Uh-oh.

Goodwitch looked annoyed at the interruption, but continued anyway, "Please draw your weapons, squires." Jaune unclipped his shield from his back and strapped it to his left arm before pulling his sword from its sheath with his right. Proper knight's weapons. Ren, on the other hand, reached behind his back and pulled two long, thin blades from the scabbards there. In each hand he held three-fourths of a meter of steel. Too short to be swords, but too long to be knives.

"Fighters, ready!" Jaune felt his mouth go dry as he took as solid of a stance as he could. Ren dropped low, raising one blade and lowering the other, eyes set on Jaune.

"Begin!"

Goodwitch jumped back But they didn't charge at each other. Instead, both of them slowly began circling. Ren seemed to be aware that a fight wasn't won through haste; and Jaune knew from experience that when he ran, bad things happened. So they circled, sizing each other up, hoping for the other to make a sloppy first move.

Jaune moved so that he was facing the crowd and his eyes flicked up to them and then to Pyrrha quickly. He wasn't about to screw it up again. Not now.

But that flick of the eyes was all Ren needed. He burst forward bringing one blade horizontally across the tip of Jaune's shield to push it away, and the other diagonally towards the shoulder plate of his opponent. Nothing that would end the match, but it would certainly hurt.

Jaune barley managed to bring up his sword in time to deflect the second blade down to the gravel. Ren was fast. Really fast. Jaune brought up his shield to block a double blade strike that had followed the initial assault. They clattered loudly against the metal and Jaune felt the energy roll up his shoulder. And he could hit. Hard. Jaune slashed at Ren to try and create some space between the two. Ren jumped back, just a hair out of reach.

Jaune tried to think with the second he had just earned. Ren didn't seem to have any problems using both blades at the same time. He used them almost simultaneously while still being aware of Jaune's weapon. So he was very aware of his environment. He was able to dodge Jaune's swing instead of blocking like most would have. That and the light armor he was wearing meant that he didn't want to, or didn't expect to be hit. His fortitude too low to be take substantial damage.

But Jaune's time was up, he had to do something or risk another attack from Ren. And defenses don't win battles. Jaune charged forward and brought his sword down in a heavy overhead strike. But Ren saw the attack as if it had been telegraphed.

Ren danced out of the way so that he was facing Jaune's almost completely exposed back. But instead of slicing him in half, like any other opponent would, Ren's blades slashed down an inch from his clothes, slicing the leather straps holding Jaune's chest and back plates to his body.

Jaune slid his foot across the gravel and attempted spin so he could raise his shield to block any more attacks. But with the way his weight was distributed, he only succeeded in falling onto his back with a loud clatter.

A roar of laughter went up from the crowd and Jaune's face burned red. He could hear them shouting for Ren to finish the match, but the boy with the thin blades didn't oblige. Instead, he motioned for Jaune to stand up with his weapons and took stance a meter and a half away. Jaune, confused as to why Ren would do such a thing, did as he was told and pushed himself up into a standing position. He heard a loud clatter of metal on stone, and realized what Ren had done. The largest pieces of his armor lay resting in the gravel.

Ren motioned for Jaune to kick them away, but didn't say anything. Not wanting to fight without any protection, Jaune hesitated to obey.

"It was slowing you down and restricting your movements." Ren's voice came at him from across the gravel. Jaune gave a puzzled look. Ren's voice didn't betray annoyance, but was spiced with something else instead. Pity? Sympathy? "It's not much of a fair fight if you can't move, is it?"

Jaune looked down at the armor. Ren was right. Jaune had always known that his grandfather's armor didn't fit properly. But it was all he had. It was as much of an honor to wear that armor as it was to swing his father's sword, or use his grandma's shield.

But Ren wasn't going to wait any longer for Jaune. So he moved, kicked Jaune in his, now unprotected, chest and tossed both pieces of armor away with the tips of his blades.

"You'll have to keep a tighter guard now, though."

Jaune rushed at Ren again, with another overhead strike. Again, Ren dodged it and ended up behind Jaune. But this time, Jaune was able to bend backwards and slam his shield into Ren's blades as they came in for a strike. The force of Jaune's block sent Ren's weapons backwards and caused their owner to stumble a bit, which Jaune attempted to take advantage of. He swung his sword in a wide, horizontal arc towards Ren.

It looked as if it was about to hit, before Ren ducked and rolled underneath the sword, ending up on Jaune's right side. Ren brought both of his blades in an overhead strike of his own, aimed for Jaune's shoulder.

Without having time to think, Jaune dropped his sword and raised his arm so that Ren's blades connected with the vambrace covering his arm. The blades connected, pushing Jaune's arm down, but slid off the metal after contact. However, before Jaune could escape danger, both blades caught on the lip of his shoulder armor. The energy of the strike bent Jaune backwards awkwardly and forced his shield arm in front of him.

But Ren, seeing the opportunity Jaune so graciously allowed, abandoned his weapons and kicked the shield out of the way. He slammed an open palm into Jaune's chest.

Jaune felt a hard push and flew back three meters, landing heavily. Ren had used his aura to amplify the strike tenfold. It wouldn't have surprised Jaune if Ren was holding back too. With that kind of aura manipulation ability, what Jaune had felt could have only been an arm of aura.

Before he could get up and resume the fight, Jaune felt the tip of a blade at his throat. Ren was standing over him, and was holding Jaune's own sword against his neck. "Yield." Ren's voice was as stoic as ever. Almost like he didn't care whether or not Jaune gave in.

Jaune thought of his other option for a moment. He could try and squirm a way out, but with him on the ground, and how fast Ren was, he doubted he would be able to. Jaune nodded. "I yield."

A cheer went up from the crowd. They hadn't expected the match to last as long as three minutes, but it had ended with the result they all showed up for. Money quickly exchanged hands as the outliers who guessed that the match would be so long raked in profits.

Ren offered a hand to help Jaune up, which the loser accepted without bitterness. Jaune brushed a few clouds of dust off of his clothes and looked at Ren. "Good match." He tried. It was excellent by what Jaune had experienced in his previous bouts. Every other match for him had been nothing more than creative failures. At least this time he had almost managed to land a successful hit or two.

Ren didn't say anything but tossed Jaune's sword up and caught it so that he was holding the blade and the pommel was facing out to Jaune. While he was worried for his opponent's health for a second, Jaune noticed the pink glow emanating from Ren's hand, protecting it. Jaune grabbed the pommel and nodded thanks, but couldn't take it from Ren's grip.

Jaune made eye contact with Ren. Something was behind those pink eyes. Jaune didn't know what, but something most certainly was. "Don't be a knight if you can't be a knight." Ren said. Jaune felt his heart drop. Even this new acquaintance of his thought he was a failure. His head dropped and he tried to pull the sword away again. But it still didn't move. He tugged once more, but Ren didn't let go.

Jaune looked up at Ren's face again. "Hey, can I just-"

"But if you can be a rider, be a rider." Ren let go of Jaune's sword and his hand stopped glowing. "There's a difference between a knight and a rider." Ren motioned towards the armor on the other side of the theater and Jaune's shield. "Fighting honorably and chivalrously isn't going to work much longer, and doesn't fit you well given that last move you pulled, blocking me like that."

Jaune looked at Ren. "If I can't be a knight, don't be a knight." It wasn't much of a consultation, but Jaune didn't think Ren was somebody who ever really gave true praise or non-cryptic advice.

Goodwitch stepped into the ring, deciding to put an end to the moment being shared between the two. "Lie Ren is the winner of this match. For the next match we will move to the field."

While the crowd moved with Professor Goodwitch to the much larger field stadium, Jaune fell behind. He wasn't involved in the next match and he didn't think Pyrrha would care if he watched or not. Picking up his granpa's armor was more important anyway. He kept his head to the ground, a bit disappointed that even when it had mattered most, he still blew it. Jaune let out a heavy sigh and grabbed the chest plate, tucking it under his right arm. Before he could grab the back piece though, it came flying towards him. He barely managed to catch it and nearly fumbled it three times before getting a solid hold.

Jaune looked up to see who had thrown it, fully expecting to see Ren. But Ren, with Nora excitedly buzzing around him, went with the crowd to the field stadium. Pyrrha had been the one who threw the armor. She was standing a few meters away with her arms crossed.

Jaune gave the fakest smile he could. "Looks like you were right. Now it's just up to you to win your individual and the pair fights for us."

Pyrrha snorted and began to walk away as Jaune caught up. "Well, you weren't half-bad." Her voice was warmer than it had been when they first met. Only by a few degrees, but definitely warmer.

"But I wasn't half-good either."

Pyrrha looked over her shoulder at him as she walked forward, rounded pupils taking him in. Hadn't they been vertical before? "No, you weren't." Jaune laughed and earned a slight smile from his companion. "But mediocre isn't always that bad. Sometimes, it's better to be average."

Jaune thought on this for a moment and was about to respond when Pyrrha turned her head forward again.

What a weird thing to say.

* * *

_A/N: Some of the most obvious accidental symbolism in the world in this chapter. I don't know what the update schedule will be like. I'll try for once during the week and to finish for next weekend, but no promises. Good to see Pyrrha warming up though. Wonder why she would do that? Drop a follow, favorite, review whatever if you enjoyed. Thanks for reading._


	3. Dragon Tails

_A/N: It's been awhile guys. I'm really sorry that it took so long to update this story. I've just been kind of down lately and have had a tough time writing things. But I went back and I changed a few things in the previous two chapters, trying to keep my 3rd person limited perspective because I slipped into omni a few times. A guest review expressed worry that I was taking ideas and not crediting them, when I said to check out Xekstrin's tumblr with the tagged posts, I meant the text posts for the world and rules. I didn't use any references for dragon or knight designs other than m-azing's Pyrrha design. If it seems like I did, I'm sorry but I didn't. I always make sure to credit the correct people._

_ Also, important to this chapter, dragons cannot use their Aura to heal their wounds. That's why they need a knight. The knight provides the Aura to the dragon, and then the dragon can heal themselves as they see fit. Also, warning that Pyrrha's transformation is a bit disturbing, and there are a few instances during the pair fight where I reference blood. Nothing super graphic or gory, but I figured I should warn just in case. Enjoy._

* * *

The second stadium was much larger than the first. It could easily house several football fields and had no roof, allowing for any sort of aerial combat desired by the shifters when the time came. The crowd of students had already taken their seats by the time that Pyrrha and Jaune walked in and Goodwitch was tapping her foot impatiently, not seeming to be pleased with the small bonding moment she had allowed to occur between her top and bottom students. She motioned for Pyrrha to take her place opposite of Nora and for Jaune to take a seat on the sidelines.

"Good luck!" Jaune called after Pyrrha. She gave him a weird look, as if she was going to reply, but instead just nodded and continued to the center of the ring. Jaune took his place next to Ren, who was standing with his arms crossed a few meters from the bleachers.

"I don't think Pyrrha needs luck." Ren commented to Jaune, who dropped his broken pieces of armor to the ground.

Jaune thought for a second a nodded. "I guess not. I hear she's pretty good. But from what I can tell, Nora is pretty good too. Seems like a fair fight." Jaune looked down at the pieces of metal and noted that he wouldn't be able to fix them until he got glue or something for the leather straps that would hold his torso plates together. His chest would be totally unprotected for the pair match later. Had Ren done that on purpose?

Ren shook his head. "Nora doesn't do well on her own. While she's better than most, she is too impulsive. Pyrrha will win this one."

Jaune looked at his new friend. It seemed a bit harsh to be saying that about his partner, but Ren's voice betrayed no animosity. It sounded like he was just trying to state facts and observations he had accumulated over the years. Nothing more, nothing less. Jaune sighed and took a seat on the grass next to Ren, who remained standing, but didn't respond to exhale.

Goodwitch's voice came across the field and the chattering students in the stands quieted down. "Now that the two shifters have agreed to all rules of combat and shaken hands, the match will begin. Shifters, please take your forms."

Jaune bit his lip. He never really liked watching shifters change. The process almost always made him uncomfortable. He didn't want to say it was inhuman, because that would be stupid, but that's exactly what Jaune thought.

Pyrrha gave the smaller girl the first shift and opportunity to show off. And just like that, huge plums of pink feathers sprouted out of Nora's back and wrapped around her body, which was elongating and growing. From every pore on her body, more and more feathers sprouted as insane amounts of muscle started rippling under her skin and taking shape where they needed to be. Her neck stretched and a wild mane of hair grew there. Her face stretched out and a long snout was created. Her teeth grew so large that the tips of her canines poked out from the bottom of her lips by a few centimeters. Hard ivory claws sprouted from her nails and feet, digging into the dirt and kicking up dust. Nora was a small dragon, not large enough for more than two people to ride on at once, but Jaune could see all the power in her body. Through all the feathers and skin, it was impossible to miss the flexing leg and neck muscles.

The transformation and gentle pink color of the dragon matched Nora so perfectly that Jaune couldn't help but laugh when the reptilian lips curved into a smile and Nora flapped her wings experimentally a few times, head turned back to make sure they worked correctly.

When she had passed her own inspection, the dragon squeaked with glee and hopped up and down a few times before backing away from Pyrrha and giving a nod for the girl to proceed with her transformation.

Jaune glued his eyes to Pyrrha, to his one chance for redemption.

But as soon as she started shifting, he knew his eyes were glued to her for a totally different reason.

Instead of the calmness and mirth with which Nora transformed, Pyrrha shifted with violence and rage. Almost immediately, Pyrrha dropped to all fours and screamed out in pain and rage, black smoke pouring out of her mouth. Her body rippled and her skin crawled but she didn't grow or expand instantly like Nora did. Instead, Pyrrha started tearing at her skin, pulling away large portions and leaving huge, bleeding red marks on her body.

Jaune stared in horror as Pyrrha clawed at every inch of her skin that she could get at, tearing it off and screaming in pain. He moved to go and help her, stop her, but Ren grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Jaune gave him an incredulous look and was about to spout off when Ren nodded back in Pyrrha's direction.

Pyrrha's skin stopped crawling and red scales began forming everywhere that Pyrrha had torn off her skin. Her body was growing at an alarming rate and the screaming stopped while the smoke pouring out of her mouth got thicker. Pyrrha grew to Nora's size and then continued to at least double it. Huge, white claws with the diameters of plates capped gigantic reptilian feet. Massive wings expanded and stretched, blocking the sun from the spectators and hiding them in a deep, red light. Spines shot out of the scales all down Pyrrha's back and tail, which ended up covered in barb-like thorns. Yellow, reptilian eyes opened, revealing a vertically slit pupil; as opposed to Nora's, which had remained circles. Pyrrha opened her mouth and turned her head skywards, flashing three rows of pure, white death in the process.

And then she roared.

Jaune slapped his hands over his ears immediately. But he couldn't escape it. The roar was so primal and so bone shaking that covering his ears did next to nothing. A spout of green fire shot out of Pyrrha's mouth and even though Jaune was a decent distance away, he still felt the heat. Pyrrha lowered her head and backed up a few steps so that she was respectable distance away from Nora.

A cheer went up from the crowd and Jaune turned to see that the vast majority of the spectators were standing and applauding Pyrrha for her transformation. Jaune whipped his head back to Ren, who was wearing a face somewhere between disgust and pity. "What the Hell was that?"

Ren looked at Jaune. "That is who you're paired with."

"I've never seen anything that violent before. That was absurd. That was insane. The match should be canceled. We have to make sure she's okay, we have to-"

"It's a bit presumptuous to be making decisions for your teammate." Ren raised his eyebrows. "I'm sure Pyrrha has it under control." But Ren's voice betrayed his statement with a bit of doubt. Jaune decided not to press the issue but looked with worry back to the two dragons in the center of the stadium.

Goodwitch brought up her hand. "The match begins now!" She dropped it and instantaneously vanished, not wanting to be collateral damage.

Almost immediately, Nora jumped forward. However, Pyrrha's speed betrayed her size. The larger dragon jumped backwards and twisted so that her tail smashed into Nora's side and sent her sailing across the field. Jaune caught Ren flinching out of the corner of his eye, but didn't say anything about it aloud.

Pyrrha ran after Nora to catch her, but the smaller dragon recovered quickly and danced out of the way before Pyrrha could get her jaws around Nora's neck. Pyrrha snarled in frustration and let out a column of fire toward Nora. A frantic noise came from the pink dragon but she moved and ran, outpacing the fire by only a meter or so.

But then she stopped, turned and jumped, powerful legs pushing her above the column of fire. With a hard flap of her wings, Nora managed to jump over the fire and with a hard _crunch!_ latched on to the scales on Pyrrha's neck, biting hard. A gasp went up from the crowd. Nobody had ever seen Pyrrha lose before. Nobody thought she could lose. Since Nora managed to get Pyrrha's neck, it was only a matter of time before the larger dragon would be forced to submit.

But Pyrrha wouldn't accept that. Instead of thrashing or kicking wildly to get Nora off of her, with a terrifying calm, Pyrrha stretched her wings out. She jumped and flapped her wings hard, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

And they stayed up.

Pyrrha kept flapping and the pair's height increased. Jaune wondered why Nora wouldn't let go, but he could now see that Pyrrha had grabbed Nora's body with her legs and it wouldn't matter if the pink dragon let go or not. Nora wasn't going anywhere Pyrrha didn't want her to.

The two rose to a height of about forty meters and Pyrrha stopped climbing. After a short roar, she stopped her wings and the two dragons began to fall.

While it started slowly, the two accelerated, falling faster and harder than anything Jaune had ever seen before. But Pyrrha didn't let go of Nora. She kept her claws wrapped tight around the smaller dragon who was viscously trying to escape. Clawing, biting, screaming, anything to escape the death grip that Pyrrha had on her.

Finally, not twenty meters above the ground, Nora let out a burst of flame that shot up Pyrrha's nose and caused the larger dragon to sneeze and loosen her grip. Nora took the opportunity and sprang away; trying desperately to slow herself down before she hit the ground. After a few frantic flaps, Nora slammed into the ground and kicked up a large plume of dirt upon impact.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, did not appear to be concerned with her impact velocity at all. The ground trembled as her full weight hit the ground and kicked up an enormous amount of dirt. But almost as soon as she landed, Pyrrha leaped out of the dust cloud and over to Nora, who had yet to recover from her crash. Pyrrha pushed Nora over and placed a claw against the flesh on her neck. After a moment's pause, Nora shrieked and nodded her yield to Pyrrha.

Ren, while he tried to hide it, nearly ran over to Nora to offer aide if she needed it. Within seconds Jaune could see him applying his Aura to several areas of her body. Jaune moved slowly over to Pyrrha, not wanting to surprise her and accidentally get killed.

The dragon looked at him and he stared back into one of her eyes. "What was that? You could have killed her!" Jaune waved his hands in exasperation. He wanted to win; he didn't want to be a murderer. Pyrrha was insane if she thought that was an okay maneuver to perform. The dragon snorted back at him in dismissal and turned her head away.

Jaune took in a deep breath to steady his nerves and moved so that he was back in her field of vision. "No. That's not how this works." The dragon tilted its head in question, not fully understanding what it was like to be confronted by someone with so little in terms of strength. "We are here to get a good grade and become Hunters. I don't know what you were thinking but that wasn't okay." Pyrrha looked him up and down and moved a claw so that it was hovering two centimeters away from Jaune's body. With a casual flick, she knocked the boy onto his back and turned her head to Goodwitch, who was marching over with purpose.

"Miss Nikos," Goodwitch's voice was hard and icy. "This is your only warning. If you are to be that dangerous again, you will forfeit the match and potentially be expelled. Do I make myself clear?" Pyrrha snorted again, but gave a slight head incline to acknowledge the women's demands. Goodwitch didn't look pleased at the lack of respect, but decided to ignore it instead of pressing the issue. Instead, she rushed over to Ren and Nora to check on them.

Jaune looked up at Pyrrha, who had turned away and was looking at the sun, warming her scales.

_What was she?_

* * *

Sitting on top of Pyrrha was one of the most terrifying experiences that Jaune thought any human could have. It had taken approximately twenty minutes to find a saddle larger enough to suit Pyrrha since Jaune didn't own one himself, and then it had taken an additional thirty to manage to strap the damn thing on her massive form between her hissing and snapping at anybody who tried to help. With Jaune struggling to climb onto Pyrrha's back, the grand total came to a full hour of delay time before the final match was ready to be fought.

Luckily for Nora and Ren, that hour gave them both time to recover; Nora from Pyrrha's battering and Ren from helping heal her afterwards. By the time the delay was over, both of them were fully rested and back to their normal energy states. While Jaune thought that there would be bad blood after Pyrrha's aggressiveness, neither Nora nor Ren seemed to have any problem with him standing near them while others struggled with Pyrrha. It could only be hoped that they weren't just saving it for the fight.

It didn't seem to be that impossible of a thought when Jaune poked his head from behind Pyrrha's shoulder and saw the faces that Nora and Ren were wearing. Both were set in hard determination. Nora was low to the ground and moving her tail back and forth, like a large cat. Ren's hands kept readjusting the grip on his weapon and shifting his weight so that he didn't slide of his companion. Ren had decided against a saddle but Jaune couldn't understand why. Almost any clash between the two dragons would send him flying off her back in an instant assuming his leg weren't equivalent to vices.

Jaune looked down at the straps holding his legs to the saddle. He was going to be stuck to Pyrrha the entire match, no matter how she flew. He gulped; unsure of whether that was a good or bad thing.

Professor Goodwitch stepped between the two pairs and raised her arm up. They had already gone over the terms of combat and Pyrrha had been thoroughly warned against being too aggressive. The fight was no different than the previous two in terms of the match being over if one party yielded, but there was another circumstance in which a pair could lose. If the rider touched the ground or opened their parachute, the pair would lose. It was a rule to ensure that the fight didn't break up into two individual matches instead of being a teamwork exercise like it was meant to be. And the parachute rule meant that the rider either didn't trust their companion enough, or their companion was incapacitated, both being failures to work as a team.

Goodwitch looked at both parties and dropped her arm, "Begin!"

Nora jumped backwards and spun, opening her wings and taking flight in the process. After a few powerful flaps, Ren and Nora were circling Pyrrha and Jaune, waiting for their moment to strike since the latter pair hadn't moved at all.

"Alright Pyrrha, if we stay on the ground and make them come to us, this shouldn't be that hard since Ren can't attack me and Nora can't fly forever. So just keep this position and be prepared to move." Jaune was confident that Pyrrha heard him since her ears twitched but the dragon made no other move to acknowledge his plan. While strategy was the one area that Jaune was competent in, most of his plans fell apart in the execution phase. Hopefully, this one wouldn't be the same.

Jaune craned his neck and shifted his weight so that he could see Ren and Nora before they entered his blind-spot. There was a streak of pink at the edge of his vision and Jaune whipped his head to the other side, hoping that he was flexible enough to see them coming around the other side.

But he didn't have to be.

Because they came to him.

Nora and Ren used Jaune's blind-spot to turn and head straight for the squire. An instant before Nora's claws scraped Jaune out of his saddle, the dragon barrel-rolled and Ren slashed one of his two swords at Jaune's face. It happened so fast that there was no time to react and Jaune took the hit as he tried to duck, the blade slicing from his chin to his lower lip open.

Jaune cried out in pain and grabbed at his face as the pink streak continued forward and began circling again. Apparently Ren _could_ attack him when they were stationed on the ground. It was an unexpected and dangerous maneuver.

"Pyrrha, we should take this to the air, I won't be able to defend myself like this." Again, the scaly ears twitched, but there was no response or movement by Pyrrha. No action. No flapping wings. Nothing. The pink streak on the edge of Jaune's vision disappeared behind him so that he couldn't see it anymore. They were going to strike again. "Pyrrha I need you to-"

Jaune heard the air around Nora before he could even turn his head. Without any idea of where she was, Jaune raised his shield arm in an attempt to block Ren's incoming attack. No sooner had he done that, than he lurched forward and the edge of the shield slammed into the side of his face. Pyrrha had gone airborne to disrupt Nora's flight path and crush Ren between the two dragons.

However, as Jaune regained his senses and tried to ignore the warm feeling creeping from where his shield clipped him, it was clear that was not successful. Seeing the danger of his situation, Ren abandoned his attack and flipped onto Pyrrha, landing between two of her neck spines, no more than three meters away from Jaune.

"Oh come on! That can't be legal!" Jaune took a wild swipe at Ren, but his sword wasn't long enough and it simply cut the air a few centimeters in front of Ren, who was holding onto one of Pyrrha's spines with the hand not occupied by a sword.

Ren smiled at the accusation, "Goodwitch said you can't touch the ground, never anything about riding your opponent's dragon!" Jaune felt his stomach lurch as Pyrrha went almost completely vertical trying to chase Nora, who was zig-zagging and was leading them higher and higher. Ren somehow managed to stay seated between the two spines holding him in place by leaning back so that he was almost parallel with Pyrrha's body.

"Pyrrha if you could shake this guy off that would be nice!" Jaune saw the ear twitch again but no violent shake came. Instead, Pyrrha continued to climb, chasing Nora. "Uh, Pyrrha? You have an extra guy here; we kind of need him off before he starts hurting you." A puff of black smoke came out of Pyrrha's nose this time, but again no response.

Ren smiled. "Oh no, I can't hurt Pyrrha, her scales are way too thick for my weapons." He tapped his weapon against her scales to prove the point and it bounced off harmlessly. "But she's not really my problem anyway."

"What do you-" Before Jaune could finish his question, Ren leaned forward and slipped off of Pyrrha's neck and towards the saddled squire. Almost instantly, Jaune felt a sharp tug at his back as Ren flipped over and grabbed at Jaune's shirt to anchor himself back to the dragon, behind Jaune. There was a flash of steel and before Jaune could even react to the fact that Ren had cut the straps holding him on the saddle, he was watching Pyrrha fly in the wrong direction.

Jaune felt himself be pushed and he looked over to see Ren a fair distance away and spread to maximize his surface area in contact with the wind. At some point he had put on a large coat and, sure enough, the boy began to slow were Jaune continued to fall at a terrifying pace, despite him mimicking Ren's pose. He hadn't realized how high Nora had dragged Pyrrha, but it was dizzying now that he was falling. Apparently, they had long since exited the stadium and it was nothing more than a spot about as large as Jaune's thumb on the ground now.

But it was growing quickly. The wind was deafening in Jaune's ears and there was little he could do to slow his speed. If he opened his parachute, he risked forfeiting the match. And he couldn't risk doing that yet since Pyrrha had exhibited less than satisfactory teamwork for a decent grade. If he had to pull the chute, it was going to be at the last possible second. He needed to trust Pyrrha to come and catch him. He needed to trust that Pyrrha, who seemed to only live for herself, would come and save him. Jaune would have laughed if he wasn't afraid of choking to death on the wind if he opened his mouth.

Jaune was beginning to be able to make out the individual outlines of the students in the bleachers and reached for the cord at his shoulder. An instant before he pulled the cord he heard a violent roar and was slammed into by a huge, scaly head. Despite feeling like he had been hit by ten-thousand hammers at once, Jaune somehow managed to grab onto one of the spines coming out of Pyrrha's back and held on as she twisted and turned away from several bouts of heat that Jaune felt more than saw.

Against his own body strength, Jaune managed to pull himself forward and took a seat between two spines, a few in front of where the saddle was resting, unmanned. Looking back, there was no way that Jaune could use it anymore. All of the leg straps were cut and with the way Pyrrha was flying, if he was moving around on her back too much, he was going to fall off.

"Thanks!" Pyrrha snorted an acceptance and cut a hard left turn. While Jaune wasn't sure if she did it on purpose, the maneuver gave him a perfect view of Ren and Nora and the situation. Apparently it had been their plan to separate Pyrrha and Jaune and force Jaune to be the one to resign. Now that Pyrrha and Jaune had been reunited and the plan had failed, it seemed that an all-out offense was Ren and Nora's new strategy. Nora was harrowing Pyrrha by chasing her and peppering fire blasts at her. And judging from a few cuts on her wings next to the singe marks, Ren was doing his best to hurt where he could.

Jaune could feel the pain emanating from Pyrrha. He hadn't ever felt that before, but then again, he hadn't ever stayed on a dragon long enough for it to happen. Jaune got low and pressed a hand to Pyrrha's scales, trying to focus as much aura as he could into her so that she could heal herself as she saw fit. He had never been good at creating that bridge between himself and the dragon, but since he had so much Aura at his disposal, it wasn't as much of as an inconvenience as it would be to someone like Ren. Jaune looked over at Pyrrha's wings and noticed the cuts stitching themselves shut and the crispier edges of the wing closing. Apparently, his channeling was just good enough.

Nora shot another bout of flame, the brilliant orange scorching its way across the sky. "Incoming at your seven o'clock!" Jaune shouted over wind. The ears flicked, and this time something happened. Pyrrha twisted and rolled so that her wing came down and swatted the flame, dispersing it over the leathery skin. Some of the fire that had fanned out licked at Jaune's face, but he didn't look away from Ren and Nora. It was his job to watch Pyrrha's back as best he could, and now that his legs weren't strapped down, precarious as it was, Jaune could see anywhere he needed to.

"Alright," Jaune pumped some more Aura into Pyrrha as he felt her wing begin to throb with pain. "Alright. We have to work together if we are going to win." Pyrrha snorted but it didn't sound angry or negative. Jaune tapped his hand against her scales, "You obviously can't handle them alone and there is no way that I can either. I know you can take Nora alone so we have to separate them like they did us. Alright?" Pyrrha clicked her teeth and blinked once, so Jaune took it as a yes. "Okay. We just have to knock Ren off Nora. How do you think we coul-"

Jaune held on for his life as Pyrrha went into a half-loop before spinning so that he was upright again. Before he could recover and say anything, Pyrrha dove and slammed into Nora.

There was a resounding _thud!_ as scales hit flesh and Jaune slammed forward in his seat, coming dangerously close to losing an eye on one of Pyrrha's spines. Everything blurred for a second the world spun a few times but Jaune managed to get his bearings and looked up and back towards Ren and Nora. They too were reeling from the hit, but it was very clear that Ren was still on his friend.

"How about we don't do that again?" Jaune felt Pyrrha's side begin to ache from the impact and he supplied a sufficient amount of Aura to take the edge off the pain. Pyrrha's teeth clicked in response. Agreement. Good. Jaune looked back at Ren and Nora. They had begun their pursuit again, but at a larger distance, likely to prevent a surprise move like that from being encored.

Jaune grabbed at the sword he kept clipped to one of his two belts and pulled it loose. "How about you just try and take out Nora while I distract Ren?" Clicked teeth but with a different tone this time if that was possible. "You had the last idea, now it's my turn. That's how being a teammate works." Pyrrha shifted her head slightly so that one eye could see Jaune. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she very quickly turned her head back and clicked her teeth again.

"I'm ready when you are!" Pyrrha immediately shifted her weight and turned so sharply that Jaune was parallel to the ground, two kilometers below him. Apparently, he wasn't as ready as he thought he was. Jaune looked up and saw that Ren and Nora had stopped completely, most likely bracing for another impact as Pyrrha straightened out in their direction.

"Let's go!" Jaune screamed but his battle cry was lost in Pyrrha's as a massive spout of green flame shot out of her mouth and engulfed Nora and Ren just before all four crashed together.

It was a confusing few seconds after the initial crash but it became very clear that Pyrrha's size would not be working to her advantage. Nora twisted and slithered and bounced everywhere she could to escape her opponents. And Ren, somehow, managed to slice at every part of Pyrrha that didn't have scales in the process. Jaune tried his best to fend off the blades and pink dragon, but between Pyrrha's thrashing and the speed at which everything was happening, it was basically pointless. Every time he swung his sword, it only met the disrupted air of where Nora and Ren had been. This was a bad plan.

"We have to get out of here!" A roar of agreement came in response but Jaune could tell that Pyrrha couldn't move her wings properly with Nora and Ren so close by and the wounds were starting to add up. "Try closing your wings and we can-"

Pyrrha's head whipped back and Jaune fell backwards onto the saddle he had abandoned earlier. Nora had shot up from underneath and wrapped her jaws around Pyrrha's neck. The larger dragon reached out to grab at Nora with her claws, but found the smaller dragon had managed to squirm out of reach and into a position that Pyrrha couldn't get to. And this time, Nora wasn't holding back. Jaune could hear sharp _cracks!_ as scales broke under the pressure of her bite and thick dragon blood began to pour from the wounds.

Jaune moved so that he could get a better shot at saving Pyrrha, barely registering the thrashing of the dragon under him. He raised his sword and took a horizontal swipe at Nora's nose, nothing meant to kill her, but it would certainly hurt enough for her to let go. But the blade simply bounced off the dragon's flesh, the energy traveling up Jaune's arm. He tried again, hoping to be more successful and brought down a powerful over-head strike on her nose, but again, it bounced off harmlessly.

Jaune looked further down the dragon and noticed Ren sitting there with a very concentrated look and sweat pouring down the front of his shirt. Of course. Leaning as far as he could off of Pyrrha, Jaune took a swipe at Ren but it was no good, he was still a good meter out of reach. Jaune's mind began to race. He could feel Pyrrha weakening by the second. Her endurance was off the chart but Nora had given her a pounding before the neck bite and now that she was bleeding so profusely, it was only a matter of minutes if Jaune couldn't get them free and try and heal her wounds. Ren was keeping Nora safe from any and all of Pyrrha and Jaune's attacks, but it was taking its toll on him. He was the weak link that they had to exploit. But they had managed to get themselves into a situation where neither Jaune nor Pyrrha could hurt them.

But Jaune could. Just because he couldn't reach, didn't mean he couldn't get to Ren. He just needed something to throw. Anything. Pyrrha let out a roar, but it sounded weaker than and not nearly as challenging as the past few had been. They were almost out of time. Jaune couldn't waste seconds rummaging through the saddle for useless items. He had to act now.

Jaune sheathed his sword and grabbed his shin plate, the locks clicking out of place when he pulled hard enough. Aiming as best he could, Jaune threw the armor at Ren, hoping to hit or distract him long enough to be able to get to Nora with his sword. But the plate went far right, Jaune had never been good at throwing things. So he kept trying. Every piece of armor that he could get at and throw, he did. None of them landed successfully though. All missed or hit Nora instead and Ren barely paid any mind to them, if he noticed them at all eyes hazy as he pumped Aura to protect Nora.

Jaune gave himself a pat down and realized that he missed every shot he had. Pyrrha was very weak and they were beginning to lose altitude as Nora began to drag them down. They were going to lose. Jaune moved his left arm to see if he had thrown his thigh guard, when a familiar weight held him back.

His shield.

His grandma's shield.

Without a second thought, Jaune unclipped that damn thing from his arm, aimed as best he could and hurled it with all his might, drawing his sword immediately afterwards.

The shield connected with Ren's head and the pink eyes fluttered for an instant as the shield fell away from the battle, purpose done.

And an instant was all that Jaune needed.

He swung his sword and slashed it across Nora's nose. Hot red stuff sprayed out and splattered across Jaune's face. A cry of pain came out from the pink dragon and her bite loosened.

With his newly freed left hand, Jaune slapped it against Pyrrha's neck and began pumping as much Aura as he could possibly manage into her. He wasn't sure if Pyrrha had been storing energy and faking the weakness, but an explosive flap of her wings pushed Jaune against her body. He felt Nora's teeth and jaw struggling to remain closed around Pyrrha's neck and felt as Nora was finally forced to let go as Pyrrha twisted and clipped the pink dragon with her claws.

Pyrrha climbed into the sky as Jaune continued to try and heal her as best he could. He could still feel the stabbing pain coming from her neck, but the wound itself had closed so she was no longer bleeding. Her entire body ached and as soon as Jaune stopped applying Aura, he felt his own mimic the feeling. Both of them were exhausted. Which was slightly embarrassing considering that Pyrrha had done so much more than Jaune, but he decided not to think about that.

"Sorry I couldn't get you free sooner." An annoyed grunt. "I'm no good a throwing stuff, what can I say?" An amused click. "Well we're out now so it doesn't really matter does it." A snort.

Pyrrha leveled out and Jaune looked past her shoulder to see where Nora and Ren were. Apparently they decided to stay low and wait for Jaune and Pyrrha to come to them again. It had worked every other time, so why not this one?

Jaune let out a heavy sigh. "We can't fight much longer. We are both at our limits." Pyrrha grunted but Jaune could feel that her energy was low. As defiant as she wanted to be, there was no way that she could lie to him. "How about one last move? All or nothing?"

Pyrrha didn't click in agreement, but also didn't grunt in disagreement, so Jaune took it as a sign to continue. "We fly down there, I tackle Ren off Nora, we see who pulls the chute first." Pyrrha hesitated for a moment. It wasn't a great plan. It wasn't even a _good_ plan. And Jaune knew that, but he was spent and couldn't think of anything better. If they had to go out, it was better to do it on a risky move than by having to forfeit before they passed out.

Pyrrha clicked her teeth.

"Alright."

* * *

While Jaune was forced to concede the design of the plan, he didn't particularly enjoy the end results. Somehow, someway, Pyrrha had managed to convey that Jaune was going to dangle off of her tail, be slingshotted from her tail, tackle Ren, and then play a game of life-or-death chicken.

And he had agreed.

Pyrrha began her dive towards Ren and Nora, tucking in her wings and becoming a red bullet in a matter of milliseconds. Jaune tried to keep his eyes open for the descent, but as the tears began to flow, he realized it would be pointless to even try. Instead he focused on not losing his grip on Pyrrha's tail barbs. At the speed they were going, it was a struggle for his arms to remain in their sockets as he dangled uncontrollably off of Pyrrha's tail. It was stupidly dangerous and now that Jaune couldn't see anything, he just had to pray that Pyrrha had good aim with her tail.

Jaune felt Pyrrha's muscles tense and he opened his eyes. Ren and Nora were rapidly gaining size and judging from the tension in Pyrrha's muscles, it was time to maneuver. A second before impact, Pyrrha roared and shot flames from her mouth, covering the pink dragon in smoke and heat.

And then Jaune was moving faster than he ever had before. He spread his arms, hoping that he would be able to grab onto Ren and pull him off of Nora that way.

But there had been a miscommunication. He wasn't meant to pull Ren off. He was meant to hit Ren off.

Jaune slammed full force into Ren's chest, both of them tumbling over Nora's shoulder and falling into free air. But instead of them separating and falling away from each other, Ren wrapped one arm around and pulled him close.

"What are you-" Jaune was interrupted by a palm to the bridge of his nose, a healthy _crack _accompanying it. Ren slammed another palm into Jaune's ribs, and then into his leg. Without his armor, Jaune could feel every blow was laced with Aura and the impacts magnified tenfold. Jaune attempted to move his left arm to block any way that he could, but a shooting pain stopped him; it was dislocated and with Ren having pinned Jaune's right arm in the initial grab, there was nothing that Jaune could do other than take the punishment.

Jaune couldn't see how far they had left to fall, but didn't think it could be much longer given that a few seconds had already passed. With one last burst of effort, Jaune leaned forward and attempted to pull Ren's parachute string with his teeth. But instead of the metal ring clacking against his teeth, they slapped against each other as Ren palmed his face away and grabbed Jaune's parachute cord.

"Good match." Ren pulled the cord, pushing away in the process and Jaune felt his speed and momentum come to an almost complete stop as the parachute began to float him back down to Remnant. Jaune looked down and saw that he was not more than one-hundred meters above the ground, way below the safe chute pulling height. And floating a few meters below and away from him was Ren.

Jaune had lost and let down his teammate.

Again.

* * *

_A/N: Kind of a fast ending but it works, kind of. Next chapter will mostly just be a conversation between Jaune and Pyrrha, so if you only stayed for the action, it's over. Let me know how this chapter was in terms of everything and what not, if the action was too over the top or what. So favorites, reviews, follows, all that stuff. Next chapter should be out kind of soon hopefully. Thank you for reading._


	4. Conversations

_A/N: Hey guys. Final chapter. Just so you know, this AU has it established that the shifters need some blood that is laced with Aura to transition successfully back into a human. Other than that, I don't think there is anything else that needs explaining. There are a few references to blood in this chapter, most of it dried, but not all. Also, there is a scene where blood is transferred from one human to another, so if that's a turn off then this isn't for you. Enjoy._

* * *

"Dude, you look like shit."

Jaune looked up from his seat against the wall to find Nora and Ren standing over him. Both of them had cleaned up as best they could after the match, but it was still evident that they had just been through Hell. Parts of Ren's hair were singed off and he was sporting a healthy black eye while Nora was clearly favoring one side and had a thin white line on the bridge of her nose that hadn't been there before the match. A pang of guilt shot out from Jaune's stomach when he noticed the scar.

"Hey guys. Good match." Jaune stood up and held out his hand to the victors.

But there was a blur of movement and, all of a sudden, Jaune's ribs were being crushed. "Good match? That was _sooo _much fun! Ren and I haven't had that much fun in years!" Nora exclaimed gleefully, arms wrapped tight around Jaune. "You and Pyrrha worked so well together and I haven't gotten a new scar in _soooo_ long and Ren got hit too and it was just great!" Nora loosened her bear hug and stepped back so that she was looking up at Jaune with a determined glint in her eyes. "We have to do that again sometime! We can be rivals! And since you guys lost this match, you have to challenge us again when you think you can win and we'll start keeping records of wins and losses and-"

"Nora," Ren stepped forward and placed a hand on one of her shoulders. "Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself?" Nora let out a disgruntled noise but agreed that she was a bit ahead of the situation. Ren nodded. "Besides, how can Jaune fight us if he doesn't have his shield or armor?"

Something made Jaune's heart skip a beat. He had totally forgotten about his grandma's shield and grandpa's armor. It was all just in the stadium or in the field somewhere and he didn't know where it dropped and he had to go find it or else his dad would kill him or his mom and he couldn-

Ren reached behind his leg and turned a strip of metal that Jaune hadn't noticed before so that the two rainbows were facing the stunned teenager. "Good thing I found it isn't it?" Ren gave a thin smile to Jaune's speechlessness as he pulled a bag out from behind his legs as well. "Nora and I saw you walk off the field without them, and we weren't doing anything, so we found them for you. Didn't want it rusting in the rain or something like that."

Jaune grabbed the shield from Ren and looked at it. It was his. It had the scratches he so fondly remembered and two rust colored blotches on either end, marking where both Ren and Jaune had taken hits. Jaune raised his head, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He grabbed the bad that Ren presented and opened it. While he didn't go through and check to make sure that every individual piece of armor was there, Jaune could tell that he wouldn't have to. Ren and Nora wouldn't have offered it if they didn't find every piece. No one had ever done anything so nice for him outside of family members and even then, this was pushing the limits. It was the greatest gift he could have gotten, and it wasn't even his birthday.

"Th-thank you." Jaune leaned the heirloom up against the wall and tossed the bag of armor so that it fell next to the shield, then proceeded to pull Ren into a one-armed hug. Nora let out a soft _aww_ and stepped in, wrapping her arms around both boys. Ren didn't seem to mind the hug and reciprocated without question.

The trio remained that way until Jaune felt comfortable that he could talk without his voice breaking and pulled away. "Thanks guys. It means a lot."

Nora giggled and Ren nodded, "We know. Are you waiting for Pyrrha?"

Jaune looked back at the locker room door he had been sitting next to and nodded. "Yeah, I figured we should talk about the match and stuff like that." He didn't know how long he had been sitting next to that door, but it seemed like awhile, much longer than what it should normally take to clean up after a match. Jaune had forgone his own cleanup, just so that he wouldn't miss Pyrrha. So Jaune was waiting to speak with her sporting two patches of dried blood on his face, singed hair, and burnt clothes. Not to mention the fact that Jaune's left shoulder throbbed with every beat of his heart and the insides of his thighs were killing him from where he had been riding Pyrrha.

Nora frowned and made a noise. "Pyrrha spends a lot of time in the locker room. One time, she had the first match of the day and I had the last, but she was still in the shower when I finished up."

That was weird. "Speaking of, is there another way to get out of the lockers or?" Jaune didn't want to risk Pyrrha sneaking out on him since Nora had done so somehow.

Nora shook her head and smiled. "Oh, no. I used Ren's room to cleanup! If you stay out here you won't miss her."

"Okay. Thanks." Jaune looked back at the locker room door again, a pit forming in his stomach. "That might not be such a good thing, but it's good to know I won't miss her."

Ren raised his eyebrows in question.

Jaune let out a heavy sigh. "I lost us the match. We still got a B but Pyrrha probably isn't a huge fan of losing given her track record. I just kind of want to apologize and not get yelled at."

Ren shook his head. "Pyrrha doesn't care about winning." Jaune was about to retort, but Ren held up a hand to stop him. "If she did, why would she agree to trade being paired with me for you? No offense, but your reputation precedes you, Jaune, and it's not a good one."

Jaune opened his mouth to respond but quickly shut it. Ren had a very valid point that Jaune hadn't considered. "Huh." Jaune bit his lip in thought. "Well, I guess I'll have to let you know how it goes. What room are you in?"

"Room VII-1428-Charles."

"Ren and I basically share a room so I won't bother giving you my _official_ assignment!" Nora chimed in. Ren's face got slightly redder, but it remained passive. Jaune had no idea how he managed that, but he wasn't going to question it.

"Well, I'll let you guys go and rest or whatever. I'll be sure to swing by tomorrow to let you know on that rematch, okay?" Nora giggled and hugged Jaune goodbye. Ren simply nodded, but the motion carried a lot of reassurance and made Jaune feel just as warm as Nora's hug.

As Jaune watched his new friends, and maybe rivals, walk away he couldn't help but smile. He had gotten a passing grade for the match, he was making new friends, and he hadn't completely lost his armor. Things were looking up. It was going to be okay.

Hopefully.

* * *

Pyrrha had been in the locker room for over five hours.

The sun had long since set in the one window that Jaune could see and while he hadn't fallen asleep yet, every second threatened that record. He was exhausted, but he couldn't risk missing Pyrrha. She would probably wake him up if he fell asleep in the hallway, but Jaune couldn't be sure, so he continued to pinch himself to remain awake.

Why was she taking so long? Was she okay? Was she hurt? Did she hit her head and pass out and drown in the shower? Did Nora's bite never heal properly and Pyrrha was lying in a pool of her own blood in the middle of the locker room with no one to help her? Jaune bit his lip with worry. They had been the last match of the day, so nobody would be using this locker room other than Pyrrha. She could be hurt and nobody would know about it until the next bout of matches. It wasn't uncommon for Pyrrha to go missing for a day or two so nobody would be looking for a while. Jaune stood up and began pacing.

He could go and get someone to check and make sure that she was okay. But if she was, and Jaune charged in with a professor, then he would look like a fool to all parties involved. Or, Pyrrha could slip out while Jaune was retrieving an adult. He could keep waiting. But that meant that if she was hurt, nobody would know for at least twelve hours.

Or.

Jaune could go in and check.

While it went against his conscious and what his mother had told him about peeping on girls, going in would save him from being embarrassed in front of a professor and would cut his waiting time to zero. It was poor logic, and Jaune sort of knew this, but his tired brain was beyond reason at this point. Not to mention that he still hadn't cleaned himself and he was fairly certain the fumes of his body odor were affecting his mental state.

Jaune grabbed the handle to the locker room. His stomach rumbled loudly in protest of the action and in favor of getting food. He slapped a hand over it to shush it and the grumbling stopped. Jaune took in a deep breath and pushed the door open.

While Jaune knew that the female locker room design couldn't have been far off from the male locker room design, he expected something…_ different. _He didn't know why but the grey walls and rows of lockers didn't seem foreign enough to belong to the fairer sex. Just not _alien _enough. Maybe Jaune was just thinking about it too much.

The door shut without a sound and Jaune tried to listen for where Pyrrha was. He didn't hear any showers or sinks going, so he started to look through the rows of lockers, looking down each to make sure there wasn't a body. His steps were deafening on the tile as he progressed further and further into the room. But even as he continued, he didn't see anything of note. No bodies. No scattered personal belongings. No angry girls, mad at him for being a creep. Jaune reached the last row and looked down it. Nothing. Pyrrha wasn't here. Had she gone somewhere else to clean up after the match? Had Jaune fallen asleep, allowing her to sneak past? Had-

"Jaune?"

Jaune shrieked and jumped forward, launching into an excuse and covering his eyes with one hand, despite the name having come from behind him. "I'm so sorry, I was just worried that you were hurt or had died and nobody would know about it for a few days so I decided to come in to make sure you were okay because I was worried and I'm so sorry and I'll just leave now okay? Okay, bye!" Jaune rushed forward, forgetting to remove his hand from his eyes and walked into a bench, tripping over it and tumbling to the floor.

Jaune rolled over and propped a hand onto the tiles to push himself up. "Sorry, I'll just go now." But again, Jaune had refused to remove his hand from his eyes, and this time, walked into a locker, rattling the entire row in the process. "Sorry, sorry, I'll just; this way."

"Jaune, its fine."

He paused his frantic exit, hand still over his eyes. "You're not mad?"

"No. What do you need?" Pyrrha's voice didn't betray her. From what Jaune could tell, she actually wanted to hear what he had to say.

Jaune's face burned red. While he had been sitting and preparing for this moment and chat for the past five hours, now that it was happening, he didn't know what to say or do. "I-uh, just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, um, just-uh, make sure Nora didn't hurt you too much or anything like that." Jaune swallowed nervously. He could feel Pyrrha's eyes on him, burrowing pits into his soul. "It was a tough match and I guess I just wanted to say that, I'm sorry we lost because of me."

Pyrrha snorted, a noise that wasn't very becoming, but sounded very in-place for the situation. "I don't care. We got a decent grade. And I'm fine. Just a little sore. Is that the only reason you are here?" Pyrrha's voice took an icy tone, as if she was expecting something.

Jaune's mind raced. Was it something he said? Had he done something wrong? "Um, pretty much, yeah."

Jaune heard a sharp sniff of the air. "You don't have to lie to me." Apparently, Pyrrha could smell when Jaune lied. Perfect. "If you're here to grovel for me to be your partner, you're out of luck because it won't work."

Jaune's hand was beginning to sweat over his eyes. "Oh, no! That's not it." A sniff of the air, but no comment. Jaune assumed that meant he was telling the truth, "I, uh, not to pry, but are you okay?"

"You already asked that Jaune."

"No, I mean, like, overall."

"What do you mean?"

Jaune swallowed again. His face was red again and he was sure of it. "When you transformed earlier, it just, I don't know, didn't seem right. I just want to know if you're okay and not sick or having trouble or something, because if you are, then I can certainly relate to struggling with stuff and I just wouldn't expect it from you but if you need to talk about it, I'm right here and I can help you or help you find someone who can help you and I don't know it just seemed important to me to ask you…" Jaune trailed off but didn't pick the train of thought back up.

After a few moments of the silence pounding against Jaune's eardrums, Pyrrha spoke. "Jaune, put your hand down." The teenager did as he was told. Pyrrha was standing there in nothing more than a pair of incredibly tight shorts and a thin strip of cloth that barely covered her chest.

But Jaune didn't care about that. What he cared about was the fact that standing in front of him, was a dragon-women.

Over half of Pyrrha's body was covered in red scales. Massive splotches of scales overlapped and intermixed with patches of skin. Her hands were almost perfect models of her dragon form claws, complete with ivory nails. Her legs bent weirdly at the knee, compensating for the larger than average feet. Steady trails of smoke poured out of her nostrils, hovering for a moment before disappearing. And her eyes. They were a perfect replica of what Jaune had been arguing with so many hours ago.

"Oh my God." Jaune breathed.

Pyrrha grimaced. "Since my dragon form is so powerful," Jaune caught sight of the fact that all of her teeth were pointed as she spoke, "It is very difficult to turn back to a human fully with the amount of Aura-blood that the school provides for me. I do my best with what I get, but Goodwitch and Ozpin won't give me more than the standard amount because it costs the school too much. So, I look like this until I slowly revert back to human. Usually takes about three days for the legs and claws to be back to normal and the teeth only about a day. The scales come off when they are ready, unless I pull them off, which I do on occasion."

"Pyrrha, I had no idea. I-" Jaune didn't know what to say. He'd never even heard of something like this before. It was unreal. It was incredible.

It was terrifying.

"It's not your fault. You were just curious and I figured it would be easier to tell you than to try and lie about it." Pyrrha moved to one of the lockers and began pulling out clothes and armor and personal affects. "I was born with a very prominent dragon form, so I have to live with it." She shrugged, scales scraping together as if the situation wasn't a big deal.

Jaune thought back to the match and how Pyrrha had almost killed Nora. "But you can't control it entirely can you?"

Pyrrha looked at him and bit her lip. "I'd say its closer to directed chaos. It's easier to control with a rider, but alone, yeah, I get a bit dangerous. My dragon form has a very powerful presence and sometimes I lose control of it temporarily." Pyrrha turned her head back to the locker but stopped pulling things out, just staring at the inside. "You did well today Jaune. If you keep that up, you'll be a good rider someday."

Jaune's were glued to Pyrrha. "Is there, anything I can do to help?"

"Not unless you want to let me drink your blood." Pyrrha's voice was low, it being nothing more than a joke laced with dark humor.

Blood-sharing between students was strictly forbidden before Partners had been officially formed. Until that point, there was a set amount of Aura-blood that the school provided for every shifter to change back to human form. Blood-sharing was said to increase the bond between shifter and rider tenfold and provide benefits outside of battle as well, like being aware of the other's emotions and semi-aware of their thoughts. Jaune couldn't help but wonder if Nora and Ren had shared blood before considering how in sync they were.

"Okay."

Pyrrha turned to Jaune. "What?"

"I'll let you drink some blood."

"Why?" Pyrrha's voice was cold, bitter. It seemed like she had a history of people using her for her prowess, and blood-sharing would only make it easier for someone to accomplish that.

Jaune felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. He was no different. At the beginning of the day that had been exactly what he planned on doing. Use Pyrrha to get a good grade, and hopefully, she would want to stick around and continue doing so. But not now. Jaune didn't want to do that to Pyrrha. He didn't want to force her into a situation she didn't want to be in. He wanted to help her. "Because you're my friend. And my mother always says; friends help friends no matter what life sends."

Pyrrha smiled slightly at his nursery rhyme but sniffed the air, testing for a lie. She sniffed again, more forcefully, but apparently nothing came back because Pyrrha took a step towards Jaune. "Alright, but not too much."

Jaune smiled and grabbed the glove off of his right hand, holding it out. "Just cut the palm and take as much as you need."

Pyrrha lifted a claw and placed the tip on the right side of his palm. Jaune began focusing his Aura. While he wasn't good at channeling it through to another object, that's not what he had to do now. He simply had to focus on the blood of his hand and when Pyrrha cut it, the Aura-blood would come out. Or, at least that's how he thought it worked.

When Jaune's hand was basically glowing, he looked up at Pyrrha. "Go for it."

With a flash and a sharp pain, a thin, red line began manifesting on Jaune's palm. While it was crude, they had no better way to transfer the blood, so Pyrrha lifted Jaune's palm up to her mouth and dragged her tongue across the cut.

It was a strange feeling. Pyrrha's tongue was hot and wet, but in an uncomfortable way. Jaune wasn't sure if dragon saliva had such properties, but pleasure began to shoot up Jaune's arm. He felt the blood leave his body as Pyrrha's dragon form absorbed it and began to recede. Her teeth shifted and flattened themselves, the claws at the end of her legs shifted and returned to normal size feet, several handfuls of scales fell off of her body.

Pyrrha put his hand back, the cut having healed. Her eyes had remained dragon-like, and her hands were still capped with sharp claws. She smiled sheepishly at Jaune a hint of red in her face, "Maybe a little bit more."

Jaune repeated the process and the cut was drawn again. Again Pyrrha licked the blood from his palm and Jaune watched the results. Several more piles of scales came off and Pyrrha's hands returned to normal. And even though Jaune couldn't see her back, he was sure that he heard a spine or two recede back under her skin.

Jaune pulled his hand back, acutely aware of how numb with pleasure it was, smiling. Pyrrha opened her eyes, still draconian, but far more human than before. He held out his hand, "Maybe a fingertip-"

Jaune was cut off as Pyrrha pressed her mouth against his. It wasn't Jaune's first kiss. Way back in primary school several girls had held him down and practiced, loudly proclaiming that he was no good and then returning to their recess. And in secondary school, he had once been tricked into kissing Lily Callahan at a party, resulting in their braces being caught together for an embarrassing amount of time.

But this was different.

Pyrrha's lips were hot and moved fast enough for Jaune to be concerned he wasn't going to be able to keep up. And when the inside of her mouth became accessible, Jaune had no clue what to do. Her tongue, while rough and approaching scalding in terms of temperature; made its way around and fought with his for dominance. Jaune was so distracted that he barely felt Pyrrha move close and wrap one arm around his neck and other around his waist. Not knowing how to reciprocate, Jaune simply let his arms dangle at his side, not wanting to accidentally upset Pyrrha with their placement.

Jaune felt a sharp _nick!_ of pain at the base of his lip and Pyrrha quickly pulled away from the kiss. Jaune reached up and felt the corner of his mouth, blood stained his fingertips when he inspected them more closely, having to open eyes that had closed somehow.

Pyrrha let out a breath that she had been holding and opened her eyes. Instead of the hard, reptilian stare, a warm gaze appeared. She smiled at Jaune, the action blindingly white. "Thank you, but it's okay, I think I got it."

"Hrbjalf" Jaune tried to get his tongue in order and head out of the clouds for a second before speaking again, "I thought that you needed Aura-blood to transform?"

Pyrrha smiled and began strapping bits or armor to herself, unconcerned with what had just happened. "All blood has Aura. And I didn't need a lot of Aura. So…" Pyrrha shrugged, her shoulders rippling.

Jaune thought for a second and nodded. It made sense. Other than the whole kissing part. "I guess you're welcome then. Not every day someone gets lucky to get a slice of this." Jaune attempted to wink at Pyrrha but only succeeded in blinking very awkwardly.

Pyrrha's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, nothing gets me going like stiff as a board body, dead fish tongue, and reeking of BO."

Jaune felt the heat rise to his face. "Hey! That's not fair! You surprised me! I wasn't prepared."

"You have to be prepared for anything if you're going to be my Partner." Pyrrha thought for a second as she was putting on rings and kept one off, placing it on the bench.

Jaune's mouth caught up to his mind. "What?"

Pyrrha looked at him. "You'll have to get your ears checked too." She winked at him. "Can't have you ignoring my lessons when I'm tutoring you." Pyrrha pulled her skirt on and crossed her arms over her chest, legs spread apart. "Unless you're too scared."

Jaune smiled at the joking challenge. "Well that won't be a problem as long as that attitude of yours gets in check."

Pyrrha immediately frowned, eyes growing big with tears. "I-oh. Okay."

Jaune rushed forward. He had gone too far. "Oh, nonononononon. I was just joking and I didn't mean it I-"

Pyrrha pushed Jaune so that he stumbled backwards and slammed into a row of lockers lined against the wall. She smiled at his betrayed look. "You'll also have to be less gullible and get a thicker skin." Pyrrha picked up the ring that she had set aside and tossed it to Jaune, who somehow didn't fumble it. "But in the meantime, why don't you buy a saddle that fits me with that?"

The ring was worth a thousand lien at least. It was solid gold with an emerald pressed into the center, an unknown language framing the jewel. Jaune looked up at Pyrrha who had turned and was walking away.

"Okay."

* * *

_A/N: Super sappy final chapter because I'm a loser and couldn't make this all depressing like the other things I've written. Thank you so much for reading guys. It means a lot to me if you've made it this far. Leave a favorite or review telling me what you liked, didn't like, or what you feel I need to work on. Thanks again for reading, and I hope I can write something soon. Until next time..._


End file.
